“LAIRD OF TOANGA”

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10473, 31 December 1927, Page 4 (Supplement)

“LAIRD OF TOANGA”

MR. EWEN CAMERON'S LIFE'S WORK. HEAVY RUSH TO SMILING • PASTURES. RACK TO THE DA VS OF BULLOCK DRAYS.

Hale and hearty despite his advanced years—-he was uoin m lnveroessiure in 1812—Mr. Ewen Cameron of "J'oanga," Buslimere, can look buck j on a lengthy per.od of residence w ; tiiis district, made useful by a love o; j industry and the knowledge which ho gained from his lather, who was a j noted cattle dealer at Homo. _ | Arriving in Haw ke’s Bay in 1870. | Mr. Cameron, who had arrived in | Auckland ten years earlier, was, lor some months, in the employ ol Air. (afterwards Sir) Donald McLean. He came oil to Gisborne in 1871, with two teams, comprising in all thirty bullocks and two bullock drays, one of which had been imported from Melbourne and the other being of Napier manufacture. In those days, Gisborne was simply a roadless waste of scrub. He told an interviewer that he well remembers, on his arrival, seeing a man milking a cow on what is now the site of the post office. At that time, Capt. Read was a. real czar and to get on with him one bad a 1 wavs to give way to him. Without a nv delav, he took up his present property at' Bushmerc, but for 2o years he did not receive a proper title. A bout a dozen other settlers later found themselves in a similar pi ght, Wi Haronga had reckoned that Capt. Read had no right to sell the land.

A NOVEL HOMESTEAD.

from’ Auckland on Haiti. rLSome of! them came up to ATakaraka through the open run and joined- Air-- King’s flock which had been shifted, down there on account of the floods. He (Mr. Cameron) had seen scab at Home and he had told Air. King that that Wa,s v hat was wrong with bis sheep. Air. Aleldruin, the stock inspector, and Mr. Smith had inspected the flock. One said the disease was .scab and the other said that it was not. Air. Dowell, who leased portion or ,v«i.ti. complained to the vendors ot die sheep, but one of them had said: !: I will give you £SOO lor the flock and cry quits.” Air. Bo well then decided to keep the sheep. Ohs disease went right through the district. Messrs. Harris and f ergusou spent a lot of money on tobacco which they saturated with water and boiled the mixture up but it was lutile. He personally used and recommended a lime and sulphur mixture. The dip which he had built was still in existence and he reckoned that it could not lie improved upon even today. _ . . . .....

Amongst his early-dav activities Air. Cameron did Ids full share in promoting the first A. and P. Show, which was held at Roseland and proved very successful, a good crowd turning up. They used to hold a dance every month at Onnolid in a raupo -hall.” Some sixty or seventy would attend, including Major Richardson and Major Pitt and a. contingent from town Maoris, too, wore welcomed. The music was provided with the aid of a concertina. At Waereng'.i-a-hika, the Maoris were a rough lot and lived chiefly on fish. There was no work for them.

At the outset, Mr. Cameron converted the redoubt near the r ver into a nlaee of residence. He forineo H moat round it and had a drawbr'dge, making it r. perfectly secure Place of abode. To-day the remains ~(• th* redoubt mav still be seen, with the mvths of the sentries plainly outlined. ' On account or floods, how,,v ■ the moat lias been filled in to a very appreciable extent. In those davs his nearest neighbors were Mrs. and the late Mr. W. W. kmitli, who lived on the oppos tn side of the n, ci. Apart from a few Maoris in tne district, there was not ’another h'in o soul about. As showing hew isolated was the locality, Air. Came’on said that on one occas.on lie and one <». his helpers left their lunch and went ill tor u pig but got lost *u*(i uns early next morning be'ore they were able lo find their way back by f< I lowing the river from Waercnga r-luka when they had emerged from tun bush and were able to gain their bear.ngS: Air Cameron went cn to mention that at that time-Messrs. Ferguson and Harris, of Opou, were paying Capt. Read a penny per pound to cart their wool to town, but they gave the contract to him. On his return journeys, he would take out stores to

Opou. He introduced the first Polled Angus cattle into Poverty Bay.

BOGGED PIGGY-B ACKING A LADY. Mr. Cameron went on to say that when ho took up Toanga nobody lived at Waerenga-a-hika. Of roads the district had none. Many a time he had seen a bullock dray stuck up for hours and even for days and weeks. On one occasion Mr. Eidgocd’s coach got bogged near the railway crossing at Bushmere. He had come to him and said: - 'I have four horses bogged’’ ; “Oh let them die,’’ he had told -Mr. Bidgood. The reply he had got was: “But I can’t; I’ve got a lady aboard.” Air. Cameron essayed to “piggy-back” tbe lady out- of the mire, but he. too. became bogged. Eventually, with the aid of bullocks he (Air. Cameron) had saved the situation. The lady passenger was rescued by means of planks. Amongstthe- earliest events lieUl in the district was a ploughing match which he had organised and which had been held on the property now occupied by bis neighbor. Airs. Smith. It was a great success, but no other was ever held. Flo liad often gone up to Whatatutu in the early days to inspect the oil prospects and had secured three barrels of crude oil, which was very creamy in appearance. It had. however. proved very useful for lighting fires.

“IN DURANCE VILE."

For some years, about the time of the Boer War, Air. Cameron was very active in the export stock business. Within a period of about two years he handled between £O,OOO and 40.000 sheep, which were all sent either to Auckland or Napier. The price paid was three pence per lb for nineton and three pence per lb for beet. On one trip lie went with some stock bv one of*the Union Co.’s boats to Auckland. There had been smallpox aboard and with the crew and the rest of the passengers he was placed in rmarantine on Alotuihi Island. The afflicted passenger had been landed at Napier and had died there. He (Air. Cameron) was verv anxious to reach Auckland and bad offered £2O if lie could be landed in 24 hours but the offer was rejected. The reason why lie bad bad a two-storev liou=e built was so that lie might be able from the ba’cony to see with a telescope when vessels which were to carry nwav the stock came in.

COAIBATTING THE- SCAB

Speaking of the visitation of scab amongst , sheep in the 70’s Air. Cam-; cron said that, the first'animals showing traces of the disease were landed